CV NEWS FEED // Multiple top Democratic fundraisers and officials have recently expressed frustration over President Joe Biden’s apparently declining mental state as next month’s Democratic National Convention approaches.
CNN reported Thursday that “whispers of concern rippled through the audience” at a $30 million Los Angeles fundraiser for the president last month.
“Some of the biggest donors … who had waited in line to take pictures with Biden, expressed unease at how the president looked and carried himself,” CNN reported:
“He was less cogent than usual,” said one attendee, who was surprised that during a smaller meeting with donors before the main event, Biden barely spoke. Instead, this person said, he left virtually all of the talking to former President Barack Obama, which struck some guests as unusual for a loquacious politician like Biden.
A senior Democrat told CNN that Biden is “just not the same,” noting “there is a marked difference in the president from the spring to the summer.”
In addition, CNN indicated that “there have been clear signs throughout his term of Biden being increasingly stage-managed.”
The report specifically referred to “closed-door Cabinet meetings” where officials often “submit questions and key talking points that they plan to present in front of Biden ahead of time to White House aides.”
A source characterized the “entire display” as “kind of an act” in comments to CNN.
>> BOMBSHELL REPORT: ‘CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE’ BY BIDEN’S ALLIES <<
In the weeks since the first presidential debate, Democratic Party leaders have indicated that they are considering selecting a nominee other than the incumbent president.
According to multiple sources, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, has been “privately signaling to donors” that he is open to replacing Biden as the 2024 Democratic nominee.
Axios’ U.S. Senate Reporter Stephen Neukam wrote on X (formerly Twitter) Wednesday evening that per three sources, Schumer “is open to dumping Biden at the top of the ticket.”
“Schumer is hearing from donors and assessing to path [sic] forward,” Neukam added. He indicated that a spokesperson for the Senate Democratic leader “declined to comment.”
An Axios report by Neukam and Hans Nichols noted that Schumer’s reported comments to donors contradict his recent public remarks.
“In public, Schumer has been insistent that he is ‘for Joe,’” Neukam and Nichols wrote.
After Axios broke the news, Schumer issued a statement claiming: “As I have made clear repeatedly publicly and privately, I support President Biden.”
In his statement, Schumer added that he “remain[s] committed to ensuring [former President] Donald Trump is defeated in November.”
>> BIDEN STATES HE’S IN RACE ‘TO THE END’ <<
In an op-ed published in The New York Times Thursday morning, Michelle Cottle called Schumer “the rare leader Mr. Biden might just listen to.” She described the long history the two men share, dating back to the 1990s.
“We know Mr. Schumer is feeling a bit twitchy about the situation,” Cottle wrote:
And while allies of Mr. Schumer say he would never tell Mr. Biden flat out that he had to quit the race, given his respect for both the president and the enormity of such a decision, the voice of the Senate majority leader would carry disproportionate weight if he wanted to shape the president’s thinking.
“Mr. Schumer speaks not just for himself, but for the chamber’s Democratic caucus, to which Mr. Biden proudly belonged for so many years,” Cottle elaborated. “The president may thumb his nose at Democrats in the perennially twitchy House. But his former Senate colleagues? They are harder to dismiss.”
As of Thursday afternoon, only one member of the Senate Democratic Caucus which Schumer leads has called for Biden to end his reelection bid.
Sen. Peter Welch, D-VT, wrote in a Wednesday op-ed for The Washington Post that “Biden should withdraw for the good of the country.”
“We cannot unsee President Biden’s disastrous debate performance,” Welch wrote, referring to the president’s heavily scrutinized performance at the first presidential debate. “We cannot ignore or dismiss the valid questions raised since that night.”
>> TWO HOUSE DEMOCRATS: BIDEN IS GOING TO LOSE <<
While Welch seems to be alone in the Senate, nine House Democrats “have now publicly called for President Biden to step down as the party’s presumptive nominee,” according to Axios.
These lawmakers include Reps. Lloyd Doggett, D-TX, Raul Grijalva, D-AZ, Seth Moulton, D-MA, Mike Quigley, D-IL, Angie Craig, D-MN, Adam Smith, D-WA, Mikie Sherrill, D-NJ, Pat Ryan, D-NY, and Earl Blumenauer, D-OR.
On July 2 – less than a week after the debate – Doggett became the first, stating: “I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson …he made the painful decision to withdraw [from the 1968 Presidential race]. President Biden should do the same.”
Since then, many other Democratic lawmakers have expressed concerns about Biden’s ability to defeat Trump in November, although they have stopped short of calling for him to drop out of the race.
